This shows a rise since 1910 of about 1 degree in the 13 year average. Now look at the equivalent graph below for just Australia. Interestingly, this is very flat from 1910 to 1950 and has then risen more than one degree.

To highlight the difference, here below is a comparison of the Global and Australian 13-year moving averages. Basically the Global average rose 0.1 of a degree every decade from 1910 to 1950 and then fell 0.1 of a degree by 1970 and then rose faster than before by around 0.15 of a degree each decade. Meanwhile, the Australian average rose and fell between 1910 and 1950, back to where it started in 1910. Since 1950, unlike the world as a whole, the Australian mean rose slightly faster at about 0.17 of a degree per decade, catching up the world and now rising with the world.

if you have an explanation of this difference, please email colin@aoc.org.au. Did Australian economic growth not take off till after WWII? But then world growth was not stagnant post-WWII for thirty years and worldwide circulations of CO2 are very fast. It is also curious to note that the global growth graph is very similar to the changes in inequality over this period with inequality declining post-WWII till the mid 70s and then rising again - coincidence? Comments welcome. see aoc.org.au

Australia's 2017 ClimateMean Annual Change

High Temps, Varied Rainfall, Record Sea Temps

These graphs are fine but do not show the much greater changes at the local level. For these, click on the Local Climates tab above.

For Australia as a whole, the mean annual temperature rose and was the 3rd hottest on record, continuing the overall upward trend.

Rainfall was was less than the year before but still above average, again with some areas being very wet.

Sea surface temperatures interestingly fell back but still much higher than 10 years ago.

STOP ADANI COAL

Australians are the richest people in the world in terms of solar energy per capita (See below). It is absolutely ridiculous that any government could consider supporting a coal mine when they could be supporting the building of utility level solar power generation and the transmission lines to these in outback Australia. This is nothing less than pure corruption supporting the fossil fuel industries.

Whatever your politics, whatever your reasons, let us unite together to stop this outrage, this desecration of our environment and danger to the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is not owned by Australians; it belongs to the world, a natural wonder for all to see (and a source of great discoveries for medicine). But we are the custodians of the Reef and must protect it in all possible ways.

We must stop the Adani Carmichael Coal Mine

How climate change rearranges which species are dominant

An example of how warm climate species are moving north towards the Arctic threatening the species that live there.

A Tale of Two Foxes - how climate change rearranges which species are dominant. Canadian Don Gutowski's brilliant but disturbing photo - Grand title winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 on exhibit amongst many awe-inspiring others in Sydney's National Maritime Museum. The exhibition is really worth a visit.

"From a distance, Don could see that the red fox was chasing something across the snow. As he got closer, he realised the prey, now dead, was an Arctic fox. For three hours in temperatures of -30 degrees Centigrade Don stayed at the scene, until the red fox, finally sated, picked up the eviscerated carcass and dragged it away to store for later. In the Canadian tundra, global warming is extending the range of red foxes northwards, where they increasingly cross paths with their smaller relatives, the Arctic fox. For Arctic foxes, red foxes now represent not just their main competitor – both hunt small animals such as lemmings – but also their main predator. Few actual kills by red foxes have been witnessed so far, but it is likely that conflicts between the two mammals will become more common."

Nations with the Strongest Solar Resources

This graphs shows the total solar radiation at ground level for the largest 20 nations in the world ordered from left to right by land area. Russia is the largest by far and has the highest amount of solar radiation. However Russia's solar radiation is relatively weak due to the high latitudes. Though Russia is 2.22 times the size of Australia, it only has 7% more solar radiation. Thus, Australia can be said to have the strongest solar resources in the world.

This shows the ordering of countries by solar radiation with Russia, Austraila, Brazil, China, the USA and Canada leading well above all outher countries.

This shows the percapita insolation of of all G20 countries with Australia over double that of any other G20 nation.

This shows the left hand side and the far right hand side of what is realy the same graph of the ratio of energy consumption per annum divided by the solar resources per annum. On the far right, Taiwan's ratio is the highest at just over 3.5. On the far left, Australia receives around 25,000 times its annual energy consumption in solar radiation each year. a ratio of 0.00004! Australia is overflowing with solar energy. Australa only needs to collect the radiation landing on an area 25km by 25km to cover its annual energy needs.

Each country's commitment to COP21 could be measured by their relative position in the distribution of solar resources worldwide.

We absolutely must save the

Great Barrier Reef

Write an email to the Environment Minister Greg Hunt, NOW

or tweet him @GregHuntMP

There's no need to explain the vital importance of the Great Barrier Reef, not only to the environment but also tourism, science including medicine, and even the identity of Australia.

New Regulations on dumping in the area stop dumping within the confines of the marine park itself but not the rest of the World Heritage Area (about 80%). We all know how currents, storms etc can spread dumped silt and other pollution across incredibly wide areas such that anything dumped just outside the marine park will very likely be swept all across the park.

So we need to stop the dumping in the whole World Heritage Area.

So please write an email to the Minister now, today, expressing your concerns, or tweet him a short message, now, please.

G20 Action on Climate Change

Do the G20 Countries Care?

Millions dead or homeless already

Wake Up G20 ! Is COP21 leading anywhere

Climate change is the most important issue facing
the global economy. It will cause -

Sincere action is needed from the G20 on Climate Change
which will most affect the poor and hungriest in the world. Australia has the strongest solar energy 'resources' of all nations in the world; it, above all, should take the lead to move to a solar economy.

Why?

The G20 Caused the Problem

The G20 nations are really THE nations that have created this pollution of the world through the burning of fossil
fuels with no awareness or concern for the environmental effect.

The Wealthy G20 nations can afford to Solve It

The G20 are able to afford making changes. Being the dominant economies of the world, they are the countries who benefited most from this cost-cutting pollution. If they change, the problem will essentially be solved. My fear is that they will only change when they see a way of making profit out of it, probably at the expense of poorer nations which would greatly increase world inequality. They can do better.

The G20 is an easier Group to manage

The G20 is a far smaller group than the lugubrious UN and should thus find it much easier to
unite and take positive action. The G20 includes all members of the UN Security Council. In the end, the UN is essentially controlled by the G20 nations. So unless they agree on action, nothing will happen anyhow. If the G20 agree on actions to take now, the UN will probably follow. We need action, not playing delaying games like an Emissions Trading Scheme. Simple direct carbon taxes should be imposed just like cigarette taxes, with revenues used to provide strong support for all ways of moving to fully renewable energy asap.

In the end, it is changes within the G20 that will dominate the outcome.

Earth Warming unabated

Hottest June to August and probably hottest ever September.

See below the alarming developments in ocean currents and microbial blooms.

These following two images show the stark temperature anomalies at both poles on Sept 30.

Temperatures for each location are shown as departures from the average for 1979-2000, measured by satellites.

The next two images look at the ocean temperature anomalies with alarming amounts of warm water moving south to north through the Bering Strait and, on the right, you can see the massive microbial bloom associated with this. The Bering Strait is on the right of the frame and the bottom of the image is about 500 miles long, photo taken on September 28.

Once the ocean currents start flowing in different patterns, the world will never be the same.

Climate Change or Climate Chaos?

A recent World Meteorological Organisation has brought out a report showing the dramatic increase in dangerous events and disasters over the last 40 years. Whatever way you look at it, we should possibly be talking of climate chaos rather than climate change. In addition to the average warming, the increase in volatility is even more worrying. However, politically, chaos may not be the best word to use as it is frightening but, even if we move to 100% renewables soonish, this will not stop the effects in train already over the next 30 to 50 years. Clearly we need to start preparing for the potential chaos to come. This is one of the goals of the AoC.

Will Private Power Production overcome the Fossil Fuel giants?

In a very interesting article in the Guardian, Giles Parkinson argues that Solar has already won. By 2040, he argues, over 50% of electricity could be generated where it is used. This has stunning ramifications. To read more, click here

US becomes world leading fossil fuel producer

With its massive investment in shale oil and gas resources, the US has now become the world number one producer of crude oil, overtaking both Saudi Arabia and Russia. See the blog on News

Caribbean Reefs also at Risk

like the Great Barrier Reef

With only about one-sixth of the original coral cover left, most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years, primarily due to the loss of grazers in the region, according to the latest report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

WWF Soaring High

Saves Virunga NP

and ALL World Heritage Sites

from Soco Oil

WELL DONE!!!

"Hundreds of thousands of petitioners drew the line, and told UK oil company Soco to leave Virunga – and it worked! They’ve committed to end their operations in Virunga, Africa’s oldest national park and remain out of all World Heritage Sites." Read More

The success of this cannot be underestimated as it draws a line in the sand for all oil and gas companies, all over the world, to be careful about where they explore and drill. It might even help with the Great Barrier Reef campaign and Tasmanian World Heritage forests.

Report shows Australia lagging behind

in reaching its climate targets

Vivid Economics was asked by WWF Australia to perform a comparative analysis of Australia’s progress towards attaining its climate change targets against key international comparators. For the identified countries, we analysed historic emissions performance, projected trends and national targets to assess whether or not they are on track to meet their stated goals, and compared the results against projections for Australia. We also reviewed recent policy developments, including on renewable investment, energy efficiency and carbon pricing, for each country to further complement the analysis and provide an insight into their commitment to meet targets and address climate change. See Full Report

First major tar sands oil shipment from Canada arrives in Europe amid protests

Ashifa Kassam and Adam Vaughan the Guardian, Friday 6th June" Producing oil from tar sands generates higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil. It has also been criticised for the amount of water needed to extract it. " Read More

World Meteorological Organization

Announces Record

CO2 Concentrations for April

"For the first time, monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million (ppm) in April throughout the northern hemisphere. This threshold is of symbolic and scientific significance and reinforces evidence that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities are responsible for the continuing increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming our planet". 26 May

If only Turnbull would recognise the inevitable and show some leadership!! Government support could make a great difference.

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

++++++++++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

+

+

+

+

++

+++++++

+

Adani Carmichael Mine Fast-tracked

Fast-tracking of Adani's Carmichael mine by QLD Premier is devastating.

Email your feelings on this asap to thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au

Turnbull meets Adani

That Malcolm Turnbull could consider having a meeting with Adani when he has already said that he will not give government funds to Adani is disturbing. Twitter him @TurnbullMalcolm or email him at https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm